Spring and hockey. It's an intoxicating combination that central Ohio is only now -- eight seasons after joining the NHL -- getting to experience.

That's true for Blue Jackets fans as well as team captain Rick Nash, whose first five seasons have included many individual highlights but no postseasons.

"We're not quite there yet, but just having a chance to extend our season is a great feeling," said Nash, 24. "Things have been pretty rough (his first five seasons). Usually right about now we're just playing for our self-pride and our fans.

"To be talking about a playoff spot, and to really have a good shot at it it's obviously exciting."

In a typical season, Nash would be fielding questions about playing for Canada next month in the world championships, a tournament filled with NHL players whose teams didn't qualify for the playoffs.

Instead, he's getting "What's it like?" and "How excited are you?" questions about his first foray into a Stanley Cup playoffs race. The Blue Jackets are sixth in the Western Conference.

"I'm pleased for him, yes," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "But there's a better word for it.

"I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him because he's been able to hold his head high while he's been waiting all this time. He didn't get down, he didn't get discouraged. He got determined. His level of determination is showing every night in his play."

Nash had the fourth hat trick of his career Saturday in an 8-2 win in Detroit. All three goals were unassisted, making it the first unassisted hat trick since Maurice "Rocket" Richard in 1948 -- appropriately, 61 years ago.

Yesterday, the NHL named Nash its third star of the week.

It was yet another individual highlight for Nash, one of only eight players to have scored 25 goals or more in each of the past five seasons. He's on a point-a-game pace (62 games, 64 points) for the first time in his career, and he sits only five points short of his career high, set last season.

What he's looking for now, more than goals and points, are team achievements.

"Rick's done what he's done -- scored all the goals that he's scored -- without a whole lot of consistent skill around him in the lineup," Blue Jackets center Michael Peca said. "He's had players in and out of the lineup, a whole different array of guys around him through the years.

"So his only motivation has been self-improvement. Right now he's probably at 75 percent of what he's going to be, in my opinion. Now, putting him in a winning environment, it's going to just put him over the top. And he could be one of the most dominating power forwards the league has ever seen."

The playoffs couldn't be coming to Columbus at a better time, either. It's helping at the ticket gate, for sure, and it could help at the negotiating table, too. Nash, set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2009-10 season, can sign an extension with the Blue Jackets as of July 1. He has said he wants to stay in Columbus, but it'll certainly help if management can show him that the future is bright.

"It is nice to see the team heading in the right direction," Nash said. "There would be a lot more questions (about my contract) if we weren't adding players (at the trade deadline), or we didn't have a great young group coming up.

"This is a fun time for all of us. This is how it's supposed to be. It's the time of year you want to be playing big games."

aportzline@dispatch.com